


Skinny love

by Piercethejody



Category: Criminal Minds (US TV)
Genre: Angst, Confessions, Deep Conversations, Drabble, Emily Prentiss - Freeform, F/M, FBI, How do I tag?, I may make this a book, I’m new to this leave me alone, Kissing, Mutual Pining, Office Romance, Spencer Reid - Freeform, bau, criminal minds - Freeform, post season 13 episode 1, skinny love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-27
Updated: 2019-12-27
Packaged: 2021-02-26 15:19:44
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,017
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21990235
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Piercethejody/pseuds/Piercethejody
Summary: After the events of season 12, Spencer and Emily discuss their feelings for one another during a late night in the bullpen.
Relationships: Emily Prentiss/Spencer Reid
Comments: 1
Kudos: 44





	Skinny love

After a fast pace and dizzy day at the BAU, the team slowly fizzled out of the headquarters one by one, coming down from the adrenaline fuelled high as they cleared their belongings from their desks and solemnly left the building, the loss of a valued team member weighing heavy on their minds. Prentiss and Reid were the last of the BAU to remain in the offices, neither aware of each other’s presence. Emily was holed up in her office finishing off paperwork, despite the team insisting she go home and nurse her injuries and feelings with a nice bottle of red wine and long night of sleep. But this is Emily, she is stubborn and just wanted to keep her mind distracted from both the physical and the mental pain she was going through right now. Every single movement sent sharp pain through her ribs and she had a headache so big you could see it from outer space with the naked eye. She sat with her blinds drawn, at her desk sifting through piles of paperwork and files, a dull ringing in her eyes as she sat in silence, enjoying the calm after the storm. It had been a whirl wind of a day to say the least, from Spencer coming home after spending two months in prison to getting a lead on scratch, the car crash, losing Stephen and then the whole being kidnapped and tortured situation, Emily had kind of a long day.

Spencer sat at his desk with his chin in his hands staring idly off into space, his mind adjusting back to the slow pace of the normal world. He realised he had to let his guard down, that he was safer now he was free from prison. He could now live without fear of getting stabbed with a makeshift knife in the cafeteria or held down and beaten half to death in the laundry room. He could finally stop thinking like them, stop thinking like a criminal and start thinking like a profiler again, start being himself again. He struggled to get out of that mentality, he felt frozen in time and angry all the time. Even now with Mr scratch dead and the whole Kat situation sorted out Spencer couldn’t help but feel an anger, a darkness inside of him he did not like. He felt angry at the world, angry that it would do such cruel things to him, to his mom, to the innocent people that suffered on this case, to Emily. He was especially angry about what Emily had went through. He never wanted anything like that to happen again, he was terrified he just had her back and she was nearly gone again. After all the pair had been through together, Emily had become spencer’s rock ever since they met 10 years ago when spencer was in a very dark place dealing with addiction and fresh trauma. He really needed her to stick around. Sure, he had JJ and Garcia even Luke and Tara, but what he had with Emily was irreplaceable.

As the hours ticked on into the early slivers of the next morning, Prentis found herself growing weak and tired, the pain growing unbearable as the painkillers wore off. She finished off the last of the paperwork she was doing, huffing at the pile of paperwork still left together even after she had been working for nearly for five hours. She grabbed her bag, carefully placing it on her tense shoulder, and locked up her office. As she turned away from her office door and looked out over the office, she was quickly caught off guard by the jarring image of spencer Reid hunched over his desk with a full cup of cold coffee in front of him. Emily was so used to seeing his book lined desk, vacant and empty. She was used to wiping the thin layer of dust off of the wooden surface. As her hands traced over the grain, she’d try to feel his presence, remember his voice, the way he laughed and all his mannerisms. She had missed his dorky ramblings and his magic tricks. She just really missed spencer; from the moment she had faked her death she had missed spencer. She couldn’t quite place why or what it was, or course she missed the whole team but there was just something about the thought of spencer while she was in Paris or London or while she stared at his lonely desk that made her heart pang. Of course, she knew deep down what it was, but she had repressed those flutters and rosy cheeks, she would never admit to anyone, let alone herself.  
“Spencer” her voice tore through spencer’s trance and cut through the silence of the office.  
“Emily” he cleared his throat and slouched back into his desk chair, spinning to face her, “why are you still here?”  
She strides her way over to his desk; he was still wearing the black suit and crimson tie he wore when he was released from prison. It dawned on Emily that Reid had not been back to his apartment in two months and that he could have been at home with his mother hours ago, yet he still chose to be here.  
“I could ask you the same thing” she mused as she leant on the edge of his desk, placing her bag down.  
She could still see blotches of yellow bruises on his face and the dark circles under his eyes. She couldn’t even begin to fathom what happened to him in prison. He looked dazed and tired, even though he was talking to her, his head was elsewhere, wandering in the clouds.  
“Where’s your head at?” she asks staring down at him as he leaned all the way back in his chair, his muddy eyes staring up at her, no doubt examining her scratched cheek.  
“I don’t know, it’s just strange being back here, I didn’t think he be back for a while, you know” he sighs but Emily could see that there was still something else on his mind.  
“and?” she urged tearing her eyes away from spencer’s, he had such an intense look behind his eyes it made her feel nervous.  
“I don’t think I want to be reinstated Emily” his eyes flicker down to the ground as he idly rocked the chair side to side.  
“What? Don’t be stupid Reid, you’re one of the team’s best assets, without you there’s no BAU” Emily’s brows furrowed as she tried to work out what was going on inside his mind, what was the reasoning behind this thought process.  
“the team seemed to manage just fine without me, I feel like I will be dragging the team down I’m not the same anymore”  
“Spence you will be eventually, you just got out of prison, of course you’re going to feel different, but I assure you once you adjust the Reid I know and love will come back” Emily shoots him a thin smile and he just shakes his head, his hair falling in his face.  
“I was scared today, when I found out about the crash and that scratch had you. I was terrified and it made me wonder if I could continue doing this. Im afraid if keep working here I might lose someone close to me.” He slowly stood up from his chair and shoved his hands into his pants pockets and stared down at Emily. Her face was bruised and cut up, he eyes were glazed over and tired. But to spencer she still looked as beautiful as the day they first met. He always though Emily was one of the most beautiful people he had ever met but she did not know that.  
“I was afraid you were gone again when scratch had you, I didn’t know if you  
were dead or alive and it terrified me Emily, I just don’t know how much longer I can keep this up” his face scrunched up and his bottom lip quivered as Emily felt a lump in my throat.  
“but you didn’t, I’m still here, and I just got you back, I’m not letting you walk away from this team” Emily reached out and gave his hand a squeeze which he returned by holding her shaking hands in his.  
“I was so scared, that you were gone, it felt like the world was ending and I just-“ a tear escaped his eye and Emily stood from the desk and pulled him into a hug, standing on her toes so she could rest her chin on his shoulder. His arms wrapped around her tightly as he buried his shoulder into her shoulder, blinking back tears and relishing in the fact he could finally hug and hold the people he held close to his heart again.  
“I’m so glad you’re back, I hated it here without you”  
“really?” Spencer hummed as Emily relaxed back onto her heels and spencer stood up straight but they didn’t untangle from each other, Emily kept her cheek resting on his chest, hearing his heart beat against his rib cage, and he kept his arms loosely around her waist, his chin on top of her head.  
“oh yeah the team was miserable without you, we all do love you here” there was a sudden unspoken shift of tension in the air as Emily looked up at spencer and he looked down at her, their faces closer than they’ve ever been.  
“I knew you could handle yourself out there today when scratch had you, you’re brave and I also know you could handle the team without me here, you’ve made it this far”  
“I really don’t want you to leave but I will give you time to settle back into reality and mull over your thoughts, and if you still decide that’s what you want you can give me put your letter of resignation on my desk where I will pretend like I haven’t seen it or accidentally lose it a few times before I let you leave here” Emily jokes with a sad grin causing a lump to form in his throat as he felt his ears and cheeks flush red. He let out a soft laugh and squeezed her tight.  
“just think about it, I don’t want you to leave but if it will make you happier im not going to get in the way of that”  
“you make me happy Emily as cheesy as it may sound” spencer grinned his eyes flickering to her lips.  
“don’t freak out reid” she mumbles leaning up and bridging the gap between their lips in a brief kiss. Emily began to pull away, wondering if she’d made a mistake and ruined a perfectly good friendship but spencer ended up leaning back in, his hand gently brushing her bruised cheek.  
They stayed interlocked for what felt like hours to them but only a minute in reality before Emily pulled away, blinking slowly in realisation that she just broke one of the big unspoken rules and that is; do not get with a co-worker, disaster may follow.  
Emily cleared her throat, “you should probably get back home, I bet you just want to sleep in your own bed again”  
“I haven’t really missed my own bed, I just missed sleeping in general” he jokes removing his hand from her face.  
“there’s a bottle of red wine in my car if you want to go halves, I know that will send you to sleep…since you cant handle your drink” Emily teases readjusting her jacket and picking up her bag as spencer tucks his chair in and ruffles his hair.  
“that’s a lie and you know it” spencer laughs as the begin walking to the elevator.  
“oh yeah? Prove it boy wonder”  
“deal, how about this Friday at 7? I know a great bar we can go to” spencer suggests as the elevator doors slide open.  
“sure, it’s a date” Emily grins stepping into the elevator and leaning against the railing on the back wall.

**Author's Note:**

> Comment and let me know if you’d like a continuation :)


End file.
